The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a magnetic head having a tape contact face and transducing gaps, which method starts from a substrate on which a magnetic head structure is formed layer by layer, said structure comprising magnetoresistive elements connected each to first connection faces by means of at least two first connection tracks, and flux guides for cooperating with the magnetoresistive elements.
A method as described hereinbefore and a magnetic head obtained by said method are known from Netherlands Patent Application NL-A 8 901 373, published 17.12.90, herein incorporated by reference. The known magnetic head has a plurality of transducing gaps consisting at least partly of a non-magnetic material for cooperating with a magnetic information carrier, e.g. tape, which can be moved in at least one direction. The transducing gaps are provided side by side and their longitudinal direction extends parallel to the direction of movement of the information carrier. The magnetic head is intended for reading information which is present at different wavelengths and in different tracks on the information carrier, while flux guides ensure the transfer of the magnetic flux to magnetoresistive elements. The magnetic head may be used, for example, in magnetic tape apparatuses such as audio or video recorders. The magnetoresistive elements may be of a type as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,748, herein incorporated by reference. For biasing the magnetoresistive elements, the known magnetic head has a plurality of electric conductors functioning as bias windings, each of which cooperates with one or several magnetoresistive elements.
In accordance with the known method, the electric conductors are arranged spatially separated from each other and each is provided with two connection tracks and connection faces when the magnetic head structure is being formed. After the complete magnetic head structure has been formed in accordance with the known method, the structure is protected by means of a counterblock. After the counterblock has been provided, the tape contact face is formed by mechanical treatments such as grinding, which does not change the magnetic head structure.
A drawback of the method is that the known magnetic head structure does not have any suitable means to enable simply performing measurements during manufacture to determine the magnetical behaviour of the magnetoresistive elements which have been provided. This drawback could be obviated by providing the magnetic head structure with an extra uninterrupted test winding extending along all magnetoresistive elements. However, such an additional electrically conducting layer would render the magnetic head more complex and would give rise to problems in connection with the limited space available, particularly due to the presence of the required connection faces. Moreover, additional method steps would be required to form such a test winding.